THE PIGMIES. 47 



numerous and different races ? Are these affinities the simple 

 result of a common origin ? This interrogation, and many others 

 too, had been uttered, even before the late discovery, of Negrillos, 

 which has made a reply more urgent than ever. I regret to say 

 that the present state of science does not allow us to offer a satis- 

 factory solution to this problem, assuredly one of the most curious 

 among the many points connected with the geographical distribu- 

 tion of the human race. ( 1 ) 



The study of these small negro races suggests one more reflec- 

 tion. 



When alluding to Pigmies, the ancients mixed up with true 

 facts many exaggerations and fables. Modern science, misled at 

 times by its own strictness, and, dwelling solely on the unaccep- 

 table points of these traditions, rejected in a lump all the 

 statements regarding the dwarfs of Asia and Africa. The above 

 proves that science was wrong, and this mistake teaches us a 

 lesson. 



"When therels a question of traditions, of legends connected with 

 people less learned than we are, and especially with wild popula- 

 tions, it is but right to examine them thoroughly, however strange 



( l ) Log- an has studied this question from different points of view, and 

 has developed with much science, the theory that the African Negroes 

 have penetrated into Asia and Melanesia through a slow influxion which 

 has been accomplished by sea. He attributes a great influence to the 

 Malagasy population. ( The Ethnology of the Indian Archipelago ; The Jour- 

 nal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia, vol. IV, and Ethnology of the 

 Indo-Pacifc Islands, vol. VII. ) Flowers is inclined to admit that the small 

 black race which sprung up in the southerly regions of India, has spread itsefl 

 East and West in Melanesia and Africa, and that the tall Negroes are descended 

 from it. C On the Osteology and Affinities of the Natives of the Andaman 

 Islands ; Ihe Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vol- IX.) Allen also 

 derives the African Negroes from Asia and endeavours to prove that they have 

 left traces of their passage in many parts of intermediate countries. ( The 

 Original Range of the Papua and Negrito Races ; The Journal of the Anthro- 

 pological Institute, vol. VIII.) Professor Seeley thinks that the Negro race 

 occupied, in former times, a strip of land which extended from Africa to 

 Melanesia and is now submerged. (Quoted by Allen ; loc. cit., p. £0.) 



